This story is kind of complex but I'm going to try and break it down briefly. Check out the links below for further details. Megan Meier was girl from Missouri, U.S.A who committed suicide after her online boyfriend Josh Evans started to cyber bully her; eventually esculating to a mass cyber bullying event with other girls joining in. Josh Evans was not actually a real boy but a fabrication created by Megan's friends mother (Lori Drew) in an attempt to uncover what Megan had said about her daughter after she changed schools and they were no longer friends. Lori Drew started an online relationship with Megan through Josh on myspace. some time later Josh turned nasty and the cyber bullying began. This eventually led to other girls becoming involved in the bullying and Megan hung herself in her room with a belt. Lori had told another girl of the same age as her daughter and Megan who then told the police after the suicide. When interviewed Lori attempted to the police what she had done but there was nothing police could do considering you cannot be charged for murder when you abuse someone online. Since then Lori Drew and others have been indicted with charges of conspiracy to cause grief and despair; the saga continues.
Please add any other links you find particularly interesting or respond below.
Nick's response
There is something that really draws me to this story, it's partially to do with the complexity of the story and the fact that this was a 'mature' adult bullying a child but in a conspiring and malicious way. I have been thinking for awhile that the core story could draw heavily from this horrific event. In so far as the central act of bullying occurring through the same circumstances of this event. That being a fake myspace account is created for someone and an internet 'dating' relationship is undertaken with the victim by the bully and bystander character. Ultimately this would end in tragedy with the suicide of the victim character. However as suicide is no go territory we would have to find a way around this. One possibility could be to use multiple perspectives. On the one hand showing the effects and results of the suicide on the friends and family around the victim and on the other hand highlighting the use and effectiveness of coping strategies and the betterment for society as a whole not loosing a valuable constructive force.
Sex of the characters
I had originally pictured this with the bully and bystander characters as females and the victim as a male which could break down some initial stereotypes I believe. It has come to my attention recently though that adolescent girls generally use social networking technology to keep in touch more than boys do. This indicates that girls may be more likely than boys to be both bullied and bullies through social networking technology such as myspace, face book, mobile phones, etc. However research shows that neither boys nor girls report higher incidences of cyber bullying. Also girls will primarily bully other girls through this technology where boys will bully either sex indiscriminately. Therefore it may be more appropriate to have the bully, bystander, and victim characters all female.
I had also thought that if the victim was male and the bystander female there could be a love interest between them which develops. The relationships between the bully and bystander would be as friends and initially the victim and bystander would be also friends. My experiences has shown that friendships between bystanders and victims can occur and are quite common really. Reading today I found out that a bystander who inadvertently supports the bullying behavior through their presence will than actually be nicer to the victim upon their next encounter.
Bullying moments
I see moments of actual face to dace bullying and cyber bullying occurring. This could be a way to explore the different kinds of bullying both real world and cyber and they could range from physical to emotional and psychological in the face to face variety. On the other hand for the cyber variety we could show texting, the fake myspace, defamatory website, filming humiliation and posting it on the net and so forth. I think by showing both types this would show that cyber bullying is not isolated from regular school yard bullying but rather the two go hand in hand and that victims usually go through both sides of the same coin simultaneously.
The Story of Lori Drew and Megan Meier
This story is kind of complex but I'm going to try and break it down briefly. Check out the links below for further details. Megan Meier was girl from Missouri, U.S.A who committed suicide after her online boyfriend Josh Evans started to cyber bully her; eventually esculating to a mass cyber bullying event with other girls joining in. Josh Evans was not actually a real boy but a fabrication created by Megan's friends mother (Lori Drew) in an attempt to uncover what Megan had said about her daughter after she changed schools and they were no longer friends. Lori Drew started an online relationship with Megan through Josh on myspace. some time later Josh turned nasty and the cyber bullying began. This eventually led to other girls becoming involved in the bullying and Megan hung herself in her room with a belt. Lori had told another girl of the same age as her daughter and Megan who then told the police after the suicide. When interviewed Lori attempted to the police what she had done but there was nothing police could do considering you cannot be charged for murder when you abuse someone online. Since then Lori Drew and others have been indicted with charges of conspiracy to cause grief and despair; the saga continues.This is a newspaper article from the age which started my interest in the saga:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/how-lori-drew-became-americas-most-reviled-mother/2007/11/30/1196394672124.html
The following is a news report from CNN on the whole saga it goes for about 9 minutes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZfD8DaUvqs
Please add any other links you find particularly interesting or respond below.
Nick's response
There is something that really draws me to this story, it's partially to do with the complexity of the story and the fact that this was a 'mature' adult bullying a child but in a conspiring and malicious way. I have been thinking for awhile that the core story could draw heavily from this horrific event. In so far as the central act of bullying occurring through the same circumstances of this event. That being a fake myspace account is created for someone and an internet 'dating' relationship is undertaken with the victim by the bully and bystander character. Ultimately this would end in tragedy with the suicide of the victim character. However as suicide is no go territory we would have to find a way around this. One possibility could be to use multiple perspectives. On the one hand showing the effects and results of the suicide on the friends and family around the victim and on the other hand highlighting the use and effectiveness of coping strategies and the betterment for society as a whole not loosing a valuable constructive force.Sex of the characters
I had originally pictured this with the bully and bystander characters as females and the victim as a male which could break down some initial stereotypes I believe. It has come to my attention recently though that adolescent girls generally use social networking technology to keep in touch more than boys do. This indicates that girls may be more likely than boys to be both bullied and bullies through social networking technology such as myspace, face book, mobile phones, etc. However research shows that neither boys nor girls report higher incidences of cyber bullying. Also girls will primarily bully other girls through this technology where boys will bully either sex indiscriminately. Therefore it may be more appropriate to have the bully, bystander, and victim characters all female.I had also thought that if the victim was male and the bystander female there could be a love interest between them which develops. The relationships between the bully and bystander would be as friends and initially the victim and bystander would be also friends. My experiences has shown that friendships between bystanders and victims can occur and are quite common really. Reading today I found out that a bystander who inadvertently supports the bullying behavior through their presence will than actually be nicer to the victim upon their next encounter.
Bullying moments
I see moments of actual face to dace bullying and cyber bullying occurring. This could be a way to explore the different kinds of bullying both real world and cyber and they could range from physical to emotional and psychological in the face to face variety. On the other hand for the cyber variety we could show texting, the fake myspace, defamatory website, filming humiliation and posting it on the net and so forth. I think by showing both types this would show that cyber bullying is not isolated from regular school yard bullying but rather the two go hand in hand and that victims usually go through both sides of the same coin simultaneously.